This review contains spoilers
Spoilers for FEAR 2 only discussed at the very bottom. Explicit spoilers for the first FEAR discussed throughout
FEAR 2 may be the most conflicted game I’ve ever played, and I’m not talking about my feelings. Like its numerical title, it genuinely feels like a tale of two devs; one who wanted to remake Half-Life 1 versus one who wanted to follow-up on the original FEAR, the result being a smorgasbord of unsatisfying elements wrapped up in a well-optimized package. It’s not bad by any means, however, you’d be hard-pressed to find a better case study in divisive visions, the story being the prime offender.
See, FEAR 2 acts as a sidepiece to the original game, taking place before, during, and after the nuclear event. And yet, what you’ll quickly realize is just how rehashed everything is: you’ve got a spec ops team sent in to stop an Armachan stooge, the discovery of some sickening corpo experiments, and a quiet protagonist boasting a secret connection to Alma. While such “requels” aren’t inherently bad (DKC2 is one of the GOAT video games after all), it’s the lackadaisicality here that hampers FEAR 2’s storytelling as rarely have I played a game that wanted to tell a tale yet simultaneously felt annoyed at having to do so. There was clearly someone at Monolith who had a grand framework in mind for what the game should be (to the point of retconning Extraction Point and Perseus Mandate+), only for their idea to get stuffed away for reasons unknown (this negative duality going back to what I was saying earlier about clashing goals).
If I had to hazard a guess, it was probably because of budgetary concerns - I’m not saying FEAR 1 was perfect, however its dedication to cutscenes and voiced exposition clearly indicated a veritable interest in narrative conveyance. Here, when you’re not being serenaded by the same boring dusty illusion of Alma, you’re treated to forgettable dialogue amidst oodles upon oodles of optional data that should NOT have been optional. I’ve never had an issue with supplementary material expanding upon a game’s mythology, but FEAR 2 takes laziness to new heights by throwing 90% of its explanations and answers into randomized computer files you have to go out of your way to find.
And it’s a shame because, if the info in those PDFs had been orated organically, we could’ve had a riveting sci-fi thriller at our fingertips; you get some genuinely disturbing revelations from a writing team that clearly knew the world they were operating in. Alas, as it stands, you’ll be spending the majority of your time following orders like a good little sycophant, a facet made all the more aggravating by Monolith going the silent hero route again. Mute leads are fine in tales where their personality has no bearing on the story; however, that is NOT the case here with main character Beckett, who serves as the impetus for most of Project Origin’s events courtesy of his unusual link to Alma(++). It becomes genuinely frustrating seeing him placed in situations that would warrant a human reaction, only for his silence to undermine the going-ons about you.
If that wasn’t bad enough, FEAR 2 is continuously plagued by the same two plot holes that ravaged its prequels, and no spoiler tags are necessary because these are literally copy/pasted verbatim. For starters, why are there two Almas? Even if I buy the logic that one represents the day her spirit died vs her body, the former should still be that of a teenager, not the 8-year-old girl you catch intermittently. Secondly, and without a doubt the most vexing, how is she simultaneously all-powerful and all-useless? Seriously, throughout the game she’s capable of vaporizing, brainwashing, and tossing humans about like ragdolls (in addition to, you know, generating hordes of the undead), yet you mean to tell me this same demon can somehow be shaken off? I get that omnipotent villains are hard to write, but the way Alma is scripted, it’s as though the developers didn’t even try to be cogent.
To the game’s credit, a couple mysteries from the first FEAR are cleared up here (such as Alma’s backstory and why certain characters have superhuman reflexes), but when it’s all done through discretionary notes, what you’re ultimately left with is a redux of Half-Life. No really, between the stripped-down narrative and pure obedience, it’s evident Project Origin was trying to go the Half-Life route of environmental storytelling over cinematic exposés, and while they are partially-successful (the school being a masterpiece of game design), even this initiative is brought down by the aforementioned budget cuts. Whereas Half-Life took you through a variety of locales ranging from labs to deserts to of course Xen, Project Origin sees you inside a plethora of drabby interiors indifferent from the numerous corridors you’ve witnessed time-and-time-again in other video games. Here’s a fact for you casuals -- when a game throws you into a subway station for an elongated period of time, it’s a sign that the studio was working with limited capital.
Thankfully, it all looks great courtesy of the LithTech Engine, which has seen a massive facelift from the first FEAR. Not only is the texture streaming superb, but the artisans at Monolith took the time to sculpt tiny little details into the majority of simulacra. During the course of my playthrough, for example, I came across the following minutiae: paintings with full-fledged descriptions etched under their frames, magazines with decked-out covers, towel racks with allocated labels, individual student signatures, guitar cases with specialized stickers, and children’s drawings constituting a variety of forms (like dinosaurs and cities) amongst a plethora of others. The amount of effort that went into crafting this setting is phenomenal, and the unsung artists behind such endeavors deserve all their flowers.
That said, be prepared to have your flashlight out 23/7 as this is an overly-dim game. Yes, it’s set in dingy buildings primarily at night, but that was no excuse for things to be this obscure as, even with the brightness turned up, I literally had to leave my torch on just to make out the ground in front of me (I also recommend turning off the film grain and head bobbing lest you procure a case of motion sickness).
When it comes to the gameplay, everyone knows the OG garnered fame for combining Max Payne’s bullet-time mechanic with slick shooting, and that formula’s been largely-translated to the sequel albeit with dumber AI. Those who read my review of FEAR 1 know that I wasn’t the biggest cheerleader of its enemy intelligence, but those guys were definitely a step above the swarms of thugs you’ll encounter here, who display no sense of tactic other than to trade suppressing fire and lob the occasional grenade. Hampering things further is the easier difficulty - in 1, your slowdown was countered by heavier bullet damage; in Project Origin, Beckett is much more durable, allowing you to abuse the system to a greater extent.
Finally, you’ve no doubt heard about the game’s lack of particle anarchy, and that’s definitely true. For better and for worse, this is a much more conventional FPS, and while you still get the odd extravagant effect like pill bottles popping and water surfaces ricocheting, I can’t deny something was lost with the diminishment of the original’s collateral damage (most items shot simply sprouting a bullet hole over exploding).
Sound isn’t the best either, with weapons, in particular, lacking the punch their previous incarnations had. Combine that with indistinguishable collision blasts and repetitive ghost wailing for the supernatural elements and you have a rather tepid soundscape. Still, I’ll take it over the score, which is obnoxious to a fault. When I was playing the game, I remember thinking how intrusive and cacophonous the music sounded, and unfortunately listening to it separately didn’t alleviate this memory as the vast majority of pieces are simply loud melodies. There technically is diversity, with my ear detecting electronica, native vocals, and even a zurna-esque instrument, but all of these additions are directed towards pure bombast instead of something memorable.
What’s particularly bizarre about FEAR 2’s score is the sheer number of tracks it has. The YouTube playlist identifies 80, and while that does include alternatives that didn't make it into the final release, it’s still a significant amount for a game under 8 hours. Heck, I’ve played numerous AAA games with significantly less music, and though it’s not a bad thing to include more tunes, the quality just wasn't there to justify their integration (not to mention I doubt most gamers will hear the lion’s share of them).
With regards to the voice acting, all I’ll say is it’s adequate. No one is especially strong, yet none detract from the experience either. And that’s a great way to describe FEAR 2 as a whole: a fine enough diversion. If you’re looking for an action game that’ll kill 7-8 hours of your time, you can’t go wrong here as the gunplay’s solid, visuals beautiful, and storybeats easy to follow. It’s just a shame the end product doesn’t live up to the potential someone at Monolith clearly hoped it would be, with the narrative being lackluster, Alma pathetic, and the horror elements poorly implemented. The palpable lethargy on display genuinely makes you wonder what happened between 1 and 2’s releases.
NOTES
-One cool sound effect is shooting pianos generates flat keyboard notes.
-For the record, not all the tracks are loud, but even the quieter ones like Return to Lobby and Principal’s Office have a noticeable thumping.
-Just like with the first game, FEAR 2 has its own out-of-place white nerd; Snakefist. Thankfully, he’s nowhere near as annoying as Mapes was.
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SPOILERS
+I naturally find such retcons to be pathetic in general, but what’s strange is it wasn't even necessary. Perseus Mandate focuses on a completely different thread, while the Point Man’s absence in FEAR 2 makes Extraction Point’s events unintrusive. Unless the argument is Alma can’t be in two places at once, I don’t see why Monolith chose to remove the DLCs from continuity.
++Beckett has a high stat called “telesthetic potential,” that makes him attractive to Alma to the point of her wanting to mate with him. It’s a juvenile set-up that isn’t properly explained (or if it was, was done so in the background) -- why does Alma randomly want to procreate when she already has two children out in the world (and can revive phantoms)? Why is it so easy for Beckett to resist her? If Alma is so desperate to copulate with Beckett, why does she let him waltz into dangerous situations instead of dispersing all enemies? How does she even succeed at the end when he manages to activate the machine (and, you know, blatantly doesn’t do the act….do the writers not know how sex works?). I also found it more than a bit creepy to have contrasting images of a naked adult Alma with her younger child version.
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FEAR 2 may be the most conflicted game I’ve ever played, and I’m not talking about my feelings. Like its numerical title, it genuinely feels like a tale of two devs; one who wanted to remake Half-Life 1 versus one who wanted to follow-up on the original FEAR, the result being a smorgasbord of unsatisfying elements wrapped up in a well-optimized package. It’s not bad by any means, however, you’d be hard-pressed to find a better case study in divisive visions, the story being the prime offender.
See, FEAR 2 acts as a sidepiece to the original game, taking place before, during, and after the nuclear event. And yet, what you’ll quickly realize is just how rehashed everything is: you’ve got a spec ops team sent in to stop an Armachan stooge, the discovery of some sickening corpo experiments, and a quiet protagonist boasting a secret connection to Alma. While such “requels” aren’t inherently bad (DKC2 is one of the GOAT video games after all), it’s the lackadaisicality here that hampers FEAR 2’s storytelling as rarely have I played a game that wanted to tell a tale yet simultaneously felt annoyed at having to do so. There was clearly someone at Monolith who had a grand framework in mind for what the game should be (to the point of retconning Extraction Point and Perseus Mandate+), only for their idea to get stuffed away for reasons unknown (this negative duality going back to what I was saying earlier about clashing goals).
If I had to hazard a guess, it was probably because of budgetary concerns - I’m not saying FEAR 1 was perfect, however its dedication to cutscenes and voiced exposition clearly indicated a veritable interest in narrative conveyance. Here, when you’re not being serenaded by the same boring dusty illusion of Alma, you’re treated to forgettable dialogue amidst oodles upon oodles of optional data that should NOT have been optional. I’ve never had an issue with supplementary material expanding upon a game’s mythology, but FEAR 2 takes laziness to new heights by throwing 90% of its explanations and answers into randomized computer files you have to go out of your way to find.
And it’s a shame because, if the info in those PDFs had been orated organically, we could’ve had a riveting sci-fi thriller at our fingertips; you get some genuinely disturbing revelations from a writing team that clearly knew the world they were operating in. Alas, as it stands, you’ll be spending the majority of your time following orders like a good little sycophant, a facet made all the more aggravating by Monolith going the silent hero route again. Mute leads are fine in tales where their personality has no bearing on the story; however, that is NOT the case here with main character Beckett, who serves as the impetus for most of Project Origin’s events courtesy of his unusual link to Alma(++). It becomes genuinely frustrating seeing him placed in situations that would warrant a human reaction, only for his silence to undermine the going-ons about you.
If that wasn’t bad enough, FEAR 2 is continuously plagued by the same two plot holes that ravaged its prequels, and no spoiler tags are necessary because these are literally copy/pasted verbatim. For starters, why are there two Almas? Even if I buy the logic that one represents the day her spirit died vs her body, the former should still be that of a teenager, not the 8-year-old girl you catch intermittently. Secondly, and without a doubt the most vexing, how is she simultaneously all-powerful and all-useless? Seriously, throughout the game she’s capable of vaporizing, brainwashing, and tossing humans about like ragdolls (in addition to, you know, generating hordes of the undead), yet you mean to tell me this same demon can somehow be shaken off? I get that omnipotent villains are hard to write, but the way Alma is scripted, it’s as though the developers didn’t even try to be cogent.
To the game’s credit, a couple mysteries from the first FEAR are cleared up here (such as Alma’s backstory and why certain characters have superhuman reflexes), but when it’s all done through discretionary notes, what you’re ultimately left with is a redux of Half-Life. No really, between the stripped-down narrative and pure obedience, it’s evident Project Origin was trying to go the Half-Life route of environmental storytelling over cinematic exposés, and while they are partially-successful (the school being a masterpiece of game design), even this initiative is brought down by the aforementioned budget cuts. Whereas Half-Life took you through a variety of locales ranging from labs to deserts to of course Xen, Project Origin sees you inside a plethora of drabby interiors indifferent from the numerous corridors you’ve witnessed time-and-time-again in other video games. Here’s a fact for you casuals -- when a game throws you into a subway station for an elongated period of time, it’s a sign that the studio was working with limited capital.
Thankfully, it all looks great courtesy of the LithTech Engine, which has seen a massive facelift from the first FEAR. Not only is the texture streaming superb, but the artisans at Monolith took the time to sculpt tiny little details into the majority of simulacra. During the course of my playthrough, for example, I came across the following minutiae: paintings with full-fledged descriptions etched under their frames, magazines with decked-out covers, towel racks with allocated labels, individual student signatures, guitar cases with specialized stickers, and children’s drawings constituting a variety of forms (like dinosaurs and cities) amongst a plethora of others. The amount of effort that went into crafting this setting is phenomenal, and the unsung artists behind such endeavors deserve all their flowers.
That said, be prepared to have your flashlight out 23/7 as this is an overly-dim game. Yes, it’s set in dingy buildings primarily at night, but that was no excuse for things to be this obscure as, even with the brightness turned up, I literally had to leave my torch on just to make out the ground in front of me (I also recommend turning off the film grain and head bobbing lest you procure a case of motion sickness).
When it comes to the gameplay, everyone knows the OG garnered fame for combining Max Payne’s bullet-time mechanic with slick shooting, and that formula’s been largely-translated to the sequel albeit with dumber AI. Those who read my review of FEAR 1 know that I wasn’t the biggest cheerleader of its enemy intelligence, but those guys were definitely a step above the swarms of thugs you’ll encounter here, who display no sense of tactic other than to trade suppressing fire and lob the occasional grenade. Hampering things further is the easier difficulty - in 1, your slowdown was countered by heavier bullet damage; in Project Origin, Beckett is much more durable, allowing you to abuse the system to a greater extent.
Finally, you’ve no doubt heard about the game’s lack of particle anarchy, and that’s definitely true. For better and for worse, this is a much more conventional FPS, and while you still get the odd extravagant effect like pill bottles popping and water surfaces ricocheting, I can’t deny something was lost with the diminishment of the original’s collateral damage (most items shot simply sprouting a bullet hole over exploding).
Sound isn’t the best either, with weapons, in particular, lacking the punch their previous incarnations had. Combine that with indistinguishable collision blasts and repetitive ghost wailing for the supernatural elements and you have a rather tepid soundscape. Still, I’ll take it over the score, which is obnoxious to a fault. When I was playing the game, I remember thinking how intrusive and cacophonous the music sounded, and unfortunately listening to it separately didn’t alleviate this memory as the vast majority of pieces are simply loud melodies. There technically is diversity, with my ear detecting electronica, native vocals, and even a zurna-esque instrument, but all of these additions are directed towards pure bombast instead of something memorable.
What’s particularly bizarre about FEAR 2’s score is the sheer number of tracks it has. The YouTube playlist identifies 80, and while that does include alternatives that didn't make it into the final release, it’s still a significant amount for a game under 8 hours. Heck, I’ve played numerous AAA games with significantly less music, and though it’s not a bad thing to include more tunes, the quality just wasn't there to justify their integration (not to mention I doubt most gamers will hear the lion’s share of them).
With regards to the voice acting, all I’ll say is it’s adequate. No one is especially strong, yet none detract from the experience either. And that’s a great way to describe FEAR 2 as a whole: a fine enough diversion. If you’re looking for an action game that’ll kill 7-8 hours of your time, you can’t go wrong here as the gunplay’s solid, visuals beautiful, and storybeats easy to follow. It’s just a shame the end product doesn’t live up to the potential someone at Monolith clearly hoped it would be, with the narrative being lackluster, Alma pathetic, and the horror elements poorly implemented. The palpable lethargy on display genuinely makes you wonder what happened between 1 and 2’s releases.
NOTES
-One cool sound effect is shooting pianos generates flat keyboard notes.
-For the record, not all the tracks are loud, but even the quieter ones like Return to Lobby and Principal’s Office have a noticeable thumping.
-Just like with the first game, FEAR 2 has its own out-of-place white nerd; Snakefist. Thankfully, he’s nowhere near as annoying as Mapes was.
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SPOILERS
+I naturally find such retcons to be pathetic in general, but what’s strange is it wasn't even necessary. Perseus Mandate focuses on a completely different thread, while the Point Man’s absence in FEAR 2 makes Extraction Point’s events unintrusive. Unless the argument is Alma can’t be in two places at once, I don’t see why Monolith chose to remove the DLCs from continuity.
++Beckett has a high stat called “telesthetic potential,” that makes him attractive to Alma to the point of her wanting to mate with him. It’s a juvenile set-up that isn’t properly explained (or if it was, was done so in the background) -- why does Alma randomly want to procreate when she already has two children out in the world (and can revive phantoms)? Why is it so easy for Beckett to resist her? If Alma is so desperate to copulate with Beckett, why does she let him waltz into dangerous situations instead of dispersing all enemies? How does she even succeed at the end when he manages to activate the machine (and, you know, blatantly doesn’t do the act….do the writers not know how sex works?). I also found it more than a bit creepy to have contrasting images of a naked adult Alma with her younger child version.
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História e ambientação muito boas, porém a gameplay me incomodou demais, coisa que foi corrigida no terceiro jogo.
A big regression in everything but presentation. Once again, it's an awkward blend of Horror and Shooter. While gunplay is more finely tuned, it's feel more like a generic corridor shooter from the times of CoD's big boom.
Great follow up to FEAR! I really liked how much better gun play felt! The AI isn’t as good here…
Mediocre at best. Everything that made the first F.E.A.R. unique is watered down.
On a positive note, it's still better than the garbage F.E.A.R. 3.
On a positive note, it's still better than the garbage F.E.A.R. 3.
heavy xbox 360 era vibes
i honestly belive that F.E.A.R 2 is a little overhated, i mean, sure it is inferior to the first game, but you still have a solid gunplay and competent horror aspects, HOWEVER
It's completely understandable why people hate this sequence, devs scarificed core gameplay mechanics from the first game in detriment of following a Cod like shooter, no more lean mechanics, health points is no more, A.I is extremely weak compared to the first game, and we a got an ending that is completely ????????????? Still, gunplay is good, level design is fine and besides 1 or 2 short dumb sections i got no major problems, also, it is a very short game, no more than 6h he campaign.
If you like shooters is defently worth it.
It's completely understandable why people hate this sequence, devs scarificed core gameplay mechanics from the first game in detriment of following a Cod like shooter, no more lean mechanics, health points is no more, A.I is extremely weak compared to the first game, and we a got an ending that is completely ????????????? Still, gunplay is good, level design is fine and besides 1 or 2 short dumb sections i got no major problems, also, it is a very short game, no more than 6h he campaign.
If you like shooters is defently worth it.
My initial optimism going into F.E.A.R. 2 was quickly deflated when I realized just how different it was from the first game and Extraction Point. In its own little vacuum it's pretty good, there's a lot more locale variation than the first game, and I found the story to be slightly more interesting too. My problem was that I had thought it would still be like the first game, just with HD models and while some of that is true, there's a lot more of an emphasis on high octane action, the kind of action I'm sure I would have really enjoyed more had I not gone in with high expectations after 2 very solid shooters.
Health and armor pickups litter the maps meaning you can play a lot more loosely than you could before, both helped and hurt by the inclusion of stimpacks that serve as instant health recovery. There were a lot of moments I had a full inventory of health kits because I just never needed to use them. To be fair though, the limit is only 3 so you reach that cap very quickly.
To give the game a bit of credit though, there are 2 instances of turret sections, and 2 instances of mech piloting. This goes back to what I said about the emphasis being placed on action rather than slower methodical combat moments. I thought these moments were great and I sort of wish they'd have done more of them to really differentiate it from 1. I also really enjoyed seeing props from the first game make a reappearance, as well as higher detailed versions of enemy designs. It helped ground this in the series and make it still feel like a follow-up even if the gameplay was altered.
This is definitely the 6/10 kind of game I'm looking for in my 7th gen shooters, it's just a shame it's a follow-up to a completely different and much better shooter.
Health and armor pickups litter the maps meaning you can play a lot more loosely than you could before, both helped and hurt by the inclusion of stimpacks that serve as instant health recovery. There were a lot of moments I had a full inventory of health kits because I just never needed to use them. To be fair though, the limit is only 3 so you reach that cap very quickly.
To give the game a bit of credit though, there are 2 instances of turret sections, and 2 instances of mech piloting. This goes back to what I said about the emphasis being placed on action rather than slower methodical combat moments. I thought these moments were great and I sort of wish they'd have done more of them to really differentiate it from 1. I also really enjoyed seeing props from the first game make a reappearance, as well as higher detailed versions of enemy designs. It helped ground this in the series and make it still feel like a follow-up even if the gameplay was altered.
This is definitely the 6/10 kind of game I'm looking for in my 7th gen shooters, it's just a shame it's a follow-up to a completely different and much better shooter.
Call of duty com gasparzinho, não é grande coisa, mas tem um gunplay bem gostosinho e um flow agradável tanto que não consegui parar de jogar até zerar, o terror dele é bem qualquer coisa o pipoco sustenta.
07/10
07/10
You can really tell they were chasing the trends at the time.if you told me to guess what year this was the game came out, the writing/gameplay would give it away.
F.E.A.R. is late 2000's slop. It's grey-and-orange mush that wastes your time almost as much as it insults your intelligence. It's not a good game, and I wouldn't recommend it unless you're dead-set on a F.E.A.R. series playthrough.
Sorry, I had to get that out of my system.
F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin fails as a sequel in nearly every way. F.E.A.R. isn't a perfect game, but it's a fun, impressive little romp that's charming in it's own right. With memorable locations and fun AI, it makes a great impression. F.E.A.R. 2 removes most of the complexity, turns the game into a brain-dead shooter, and fails to tell you why you're doing half the stuff you do.
Leaning is gone, and you've been made into a tank to compensate for it. A few solid shots would kill you in F.E.A.R., meanwhile you can take a dozen bullets and not even lose a third of your health. Enemy AI has also been toned-down. Instead of waiting in cover, trying to flank, or doing anything smart, nine times out of ten they simply charge at you, spraying and praying. As a result, the gun-play feels limp and shallow.
The bad horror is back, and now it's even worse. Bloody skeletons, bloody hallways, and quicktime horror sequences abound. None of it got me a single time. And there's zero horror ambience to make up for it this time. F.E.A.R. 2 cannot keep a tone, and it's frankly embarrassingly shoddy at times.
Also, I'm not sure where to put this, but this game feels bizarrely misogynistic all throughout. I know it's a 360 era game and shit writing was the norm, but it really stood out in comparison to the original game's seriousness. The way Alma is sexualized and portrayed as a whole feels really gross, and not in the intended way. The ending especially is just...uncomfortable.
Overall, I have nothing nice to say about F.E.A.R. 2. It's just bad. Don't play it unless you're (somehow) nostalgic for it, or you're on the F.E.A.R. series playthrough like I am (in which case, good luck).
Sorry, I had to get that out of my system.
F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin fails as a sequel in nearly every way. F.E.A.R. isn't a perfect game, but it's a fun, impressive little romp that's charming in it's own right. With memorable locations and fun AI, it makes a great impression. F.E.A.R. 2 removes most of the complexity, turns the game into a brain-dead shooter, and fails to tell you why you're doing half the stuff you do.
Leaning is gone, and you've been made into a tank to compensate for it. A few solid shots would kill you in F.E.A.R., meanwhile you can take a dozen bullets and not even lose a third of your health. Enemy AI has also been toned-down. Instead of waiting in cover, trying to flank, or doing anything smart, nine times out of ten they simply charge at you, spraying and praying. As a result, the gun-play feels limp and shallow.
The bad horror is back, and now it's even worse. Bloody skeletons, bloody hallways, and quicktime horror sequences abound. None of it got me a single time. And there's zero horror ambience to make up for it this time. F.E.A.R. 2 cannot keep a tone, and it's frankly embarrassingly shoddy at times.
Also, I'm not sure where to put this, but this game feels bizarrely misogynistic all throughout. I know it's a 360 era game and shit writing was the norm, but it really stood out in comparison to the original game's seriousness. The way Alma is sexualized and portrayed as a whole feels really gross, and not in the intended way. The ending especially is just...uncomfortable.
Overall, I have nothing nice to say about F.E.A.R. 2. It's just bad. Don't play it unless you're (somehow) nostalgic for it, or you're on the F.E.A.R. series playthrough like I am (in which case, good luck).
This review contains spoilers
Warning: spoilers
Good game on its own but downgrade from the series.
F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin is surely not a bad game. It follows the story from the previous games and does this quite well. However, because of the new look of the game, the new sound design and the excessive lighting, it does not really feel like a F.E.A.R. game anymore.
The story continues in this game with Alma Wade, taking revenge on anyone who did her wrong because of all the experiments that have been conducted on her by Project Origin. After the catastrophic events of the first game, a Delta Force squad is sent to arrest Genevieve Aristide, the brains behind the whole operation. Thirty minutes before the ending of F.E.A.R., the team arrives and get to work. You play as Michael Becket, a guy that also has a strong physic connection to Alma.
The whole operation goes haywire and throughout the game, your squad gets wiped out, one at the time. This is because of the interfering ATC forces, Alma and her voodoo powers and the awakened Replica soldiers. The Point Man from the first game explodes the research facility where the experiments where taking place on Alma and Becket is knocked unconscious. You awake in a hospital, which is immediately confiscated by ATC forces. They want to erase all evidence of Project Origin, including you and your buddies.
You try to press forward while being taunted by hallucinations, shot at from all directions and assassination attempts. You meet some help underway, but they are killed off quicker that you can say “What the..”. No place is safe for you and your simple arrest mission is turned into a race for survival and escape.
In the end, Alma finally gets to you because Genevieve Aristide locks you and Alma in a metal ball thing. She wanted to lure you and Alma in this thing from the beginning to save Project Origin. The part that happens next is still one of the weirdest things in video game history. Alma goes full Cowgirl on you and, apparently, you put a little Baby Becket in her belly. In the end, she shows you her swollen belly and the game ends. Wow..
The graphics are nice in F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin, but the problem is that they are to light. You can set the brightness to zero and still the game is to colorful and bright. I also don’t like the new HUD that overlays your screen. It is supposed to resemble some sort of glasses holo-screen thing, but it distracts and makes you feel like playing trough a simulator.
Although this installment is way less scary than its predecessor, it had its moments. The elementary school level was nicely done and gave some F.E.A.R. vibes back. The rest however, no matter how hard they tried, it did not work. For me, this had two reasons. One is that the scare effects and horror elements are all shown to you by static and interference, followed by a hallucination, and then, more static. The second reason is that there is no ice chilling, high pitched sound that goes through marrow and bone, like the first game.
The combat is fast paced, the guns accurate and it all feels very fluent and smooth. You still use health kits to restore your health and can find reflex boosters to increase your slow-motion time.
However, in the sound department (something that is really important for me when playing a game), the developers screwed up. The sound is horrible. It is so blend and lifeless, it genuinely shocked me. The voices of the ATC forces and Replica Soldiers sound very fade in the distance, and the voice acting for their actions and communication is terrible. The guns sound like pea shooters, all of them. The worst of all is the shotgun. When firing, a foul fart escapes its barrel and that is it. Explosions sound like the popping of a balloon and when enemies die, it sounds like you poke a hot iron on their asses and they are in discomfort rather than dying from your hail of peas.
In the end, F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin is a good game, the combat works fine and accurate, the slow motion works just as good as the first game and the overall length of the game is fair.
It is just not that much of a F.E.A.R. sequel in my opinion anymore in terms of scariness.
Good game on its own but downgrade from the series.
F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin is surely not a bad game. It follows the story from the previous games and does this quite well. However, because of the new look of the game, the new sound design and the excessive lighting, it does not really feel like a F.E.A.R. game anymore.
The story continues in this game with Alma Wade, taking revenge on anyone who did her wrong because of all the experiments that have been conducted on her by Project Origin. After the catastrophic events of the first game, a Delta Force squad is sent to arrest Genevieve Aristide, the brains behind the whole operation. Thirty minutes before the ending of F.E.A.R., the team arrives and get to work. You play as Michael Becket, a guy that also has a strong physic connection to Alma.
The whole operation goes haywire and throughout the game, your squad gets wiped out, one at the time. This is because of the interfering ATC forces, Alma and her voodoo powers and the awakened Replica soldiers. The Point Man from the first game explodes the research facility where the experiments where taking place on Alma and Becket is knocked unconscious. You awake in a hospital, which is immediately confiscated by ATC forces. They want to erase all evidence of Project Origin, including you and your buddies.
You try to press forward while being taunted by hallucinations, shot at from all directions and assassination attempts. You meet some help underway, but they are killed off quicker that you can say “What the..”. No place is safe for you and your simple arrest mission is turned into a race for survival and escape.
In the end, Alma finally gets to you because Genevieve Aristide locks you and Alma in a metal ball thing. She wanted to lure you and Alma in this thing from the beginning to save Project Origin. The part that happens next is still one of the weirdest things in video game history. Alma goes full Cowgirl on you and, apparently, you put a little Baby Becket in her belly. In the end, she shows you her swollen belly and the game ends. Wow..
The graphics are nice in F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin, but the problem is that they are to light. You can set the brightness to zero and still the game is to colorful and bright. I also don’t like the new HUD that overlays your screen. It is supposed to resemble some sort of glasses holo-screen thing, but it distracts and makes you feel like playing trough a simulator.
Although this installment is way less scary than its predecessor, it had its moments. The elementary school level was nicely done and gave some F.E.A.R. vibes back. The rest however, no matter how hard they tried, it did not work. For me, this had two reasons. One is that the scare effects and horror elements are all shown to you by static and interference, followed by a hallucination, and then, more static. The second reason is that there is no ice chilling, high pitched sound that goes through marrow and bone, like the first game.
The combat is fast paced, the guns accurate and it all feels very fluent and smooth. You still use health kits to restore your health and can find reflex boosters to increase your slow-motion time.
However, in the sound department (something that is really important for me when playing a game), the developers screwed up. The sound is horrible. It is so blend and lifeless, it genuinely shocked me. The voices of the ATC forces and Replica Soldiers sound very fade in the distance, and the voice acting for their actions and communication is terrible. The guns sound like pea shooters, all of them. The worst of all is the shotgun. When firing, a foul fart escapes its barrel and that is it. Explosions sound like the popping of a balloon and when enemies die, it sounds like you poke a hot iron on their asses and they are in discomfort rather than dying from your hail of peas.
In the end, F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin is a good game, the combat works fine and accurate, the slow motion works just as good as the first game and the overall length of the game is fair.
It is just not that much of a F.E.A.R. sequel in my opinion anymore in terms of scariness.
В 2024 году все также приятно играется, геймплей отличный, сюжет неплохой для боевичка/ужаса категории B, видно что Студия Монолит вложила кучу денег и талант. Я думаю, стоит покупки (стоит 300 рублей на сайтах). Время на прохождение всего 5 часов.
F.E.A.R 2 tiene una historia interesante y gráficamente es genial incluso a día de hoy, pero flaquea en el resto de aspectos. El gameplay es muy simple y se siente incluso peor que el del original, el terror queda muy abandonado y apuesta por ser un shooter sobrenatural de acción, y el estilo artístico del juego en mi opinión es bastante inferior al del original y no logra transmitir tan bien las partes de terror.
boh cest rompiche
Se o primeiro F.E.A.R já não dava tanto medo assim, aqui abraçaram quase que totalmente a temática de um Call of Duty com só aquela pegada e temática leve de "terror" nesse F.E.A.R 2: Project Origin, que não é nem um pouco um jogo ruim, e não sabia que ele tinha um certo hate quase igual ao terceiro jogo da trilogia quanto ele tem, que é compreensível gostarem mais do primeiro, mas na minha visão, esse jogo é tão bom em história e até melhor quando se trata de fazer ela parecer mais épica e ter fases com mais intensidade e valor quanto as do primeiro jogo, só perdendo para algumas questões relacionadas as mecânicas da Inteligência Artificial dos inimigos, que virou algo bem "COD" mesmo sem tanta identidade quanto antes, e discutivelmente um pouco da sua ambientação, que não sei se renuncio em dizer isso, porque realmente achei o jogo tão de "terror" quanto o anterior e acho que estou só quando digo que gostei mais dele do que do primeiro game (apesar de achar os dois bons em suas devidas proporções).
O começo desse game é basicamente no mesmo momento do final do primeiro jogo, onde Alma é liberta pelo "Harlan Wade", e logo após rola aquela explosão massiva na "Origin Facility", onde vemos na perspectiva do novo protagonista da vez que agora é o Sargento "Michael Becket". Aqui, em questão da estrutura da história, eles fazem basicamente o mesmo que fizeram em relação ao primeiro jogo, apresentam um novo vilão para compartilhar a ameaça com a Alma e ficar no lugar do ameaçador "Paxton Fettel" do primeiro game, que agora em vez de ser alguém que está lado-a-lado com a Alma, é só um general qualquer (Richard Vanek) que pelo que eu entendi está tentando acobertar todo o caso em relação à Alma e seu projeto fracassado de controle nela, eliminando a tudo e a todos com seus agentes clones que já tinham sido estabelecidos e agora estão na mão desse general desse segundo jogo, que sinceramente não chega nem perto da ameaça que o "Paxton" tinha e fica sobrando quando se trata da ameaça principal e marca de toda essa trilogia que é a "Alma Wade", onde desenvolvem ela ainda mais aqui e é obviamente a melhor coisa desse game, tendo um dos finais mais bizarros e confusos que eu já vi (que é meio estranho se você pensar demais mas dá para passar), e muitos momentos épicos e legais em toda a campanha que me fazem valorizar e reconhecer o trabalho que fizeram nesse jogo.
Os gráficos continuam bons até para os dias de hoje, e o jogo novamente é dividido em Intervals (Intervalos), em que nesse aqui, são apenas 7 (em vez de 11 igual no anterior) ao todo. Foi nesse game que apresentaram o tema mais sinistro e macabro dessa trilogia, o da "Alma's Music Box", que meu amigo que trilha marcante e arrepiante, igualmente poderosa há de muitos temas de filmes do gênero de terror que ficam na cabeça por horas e horas, que acho que até usei ela para um dos meus vídeos de terror que eu fazia na época no meu canal, que sinceramente é tão boa que para mim podia ter sido mais usada em toda a história do game. Mas enfim, o único ponto que realmente foi o que "pesou na balança" de muita gente, é o fato de terem caído de cabeça na estrutura de um Call of Duty e perdido ainda mais toda aquela carga de "terror" que "ainda tinha" (mesmo que pouco) no anterior, mas sinceramente, eu acho aceitável a proposta que abordaram nesse aqui pelo fato do primeiro jogo já não parecer e sentir que se considerava um jogo de terror completo e sim com uma pegada disso com ficção científica, tanto que o nível que tive de susto desse para o primeiro jogo foi basicamente o mesmo, de apenas um "jumpscare" que no caso daqui, foi no comecinho do jogo dentro do "APC", e foi isso.
Por fim, como dito acima, acho que o povo pega um pouco pesado com esse game, na minha visão, ele é tão bom e até mais épico com seus eventos do que seu antecessor, sendo para mim, o meu favorito de toda a trilogia. Ok, eu até posso entender que ele "se perde" no conceito de terror, mas ainda sim toda a abordagem dele não fica para trás e consegue se sustentar dentro do que ele se inspirou que foi a de um bom Call of Duty, só que numa pegada leve de terror, fora que, ele desenvolve bem toda a trama da garotinha "Alma" e de como ela é sinistra! Além de que, F.E.A.R, desde o primeiro nunca teve muito do conceito de algo de fato puro de terror como um Silent Hill ou algo do tipo, então essa abordagem foi tão aceitável, nos meus olhos, quanto a que exploraram anteriormente, e a ideia de fases épicas e a progressão divertida de uma para outra me prenderam bem do início ao fim nesse game, até mais que do próprio F.E.A.R 1.
O começo desse game é basicamente no mesmo momento do final do primeiro jogo, onde Alma é liberta pelo "Harlan Wade", e logo após rola aquela explosão massiva na "Origin Facility", onde vemos na perspectiva do novo protagonista da vez que agora é o Sargento "Michael Becket". Aqui, em questão da estrutura da história, eles fazem basicamente o mesmo que fizeram em relação ao primeiro jogo, apresentam um novo vilão para compartilhar a ameaça com a Alma e ficar no lugar do ameaçador "Paxton Fettel" do primeiro game, que agora em vez de ser alguém que está lado-a-lado com a Alma, é só um general qualquer (Richard Vanek) que pelo que eu entendi está tentando acobertar todo o caso em relação à Alma e seu projeto fracassado de controle nela, eliminando a tudo e a todos com seus agentes clones que já tinham sido estabelecidos e agora estão na mão desse general desse segundo jogo, que sinceramente não chega nem perto da ameaça que o "Paxton" tinha e fica sobrando quando se trata da ameaça principal e marca de toda essa trilogia que é a "Alma Wade", onde desenvolvem ela ainda mais aqui e é obviamente a melhor coisa desse game, tendo um dos finais mais bizarros e confusos que eu já vi (que é meio estranho se você pensar demais mas dá para passar), e muitos momentos épicos e legais em toda a campanha que me fazem valorizar e reconhecer o trabalho que fizeram nesse jogo.
Os gráficos continuam bons até para os dias de hoje, e o jogo novamente é dividido em Intervals (Intervalos), em que nesse aqui, são apenas 7 (em vez de 11 igual no anterior) ao todo. Foi nesse game que apresentaram o tema mais sinistro e macabro dessa trilogia, o da "Alma's Music Box", que meu amigo que trilha marcante e arrepiante, igualmente poderosa há de muitos temas de filmes do gênero de terror que ficam na cabeça por horas e horas, que acho que até usei ela para um dos meus vídeos de terror que eu fazia na época no meu canal, que sinceramente é tão boa que para mim podia ter sido mais usada em toda a história do game. Mas enfim, o único ponto que realmente foi o que "pesou na balança" de muita gente, é o fato de terem caído de cabeça na estrutura de um Call of Duty e perdido ainda mais toda aquela carga de "terror" que "ainda tinha" (mesmo que pouco) no anterior, mas sinceramente, eu acho aceitável a proposta que abordaram nesse aqui pelo fato do primeiro jogo já não parecer e sentir que se considerava um jogo de terror completo e sim com uma pegada disso com ficção científica, tanto que o nível que tive de susto desse para o primeiro jogo foi basicamente o mesmo, de apenas um "jumpscare" que no caso daqui, foi no comecinho do jogo dentro do "APC", e foi isso.
Por fim, como dito acima, acho que o povo pega um pouco pesado com esse game, na minha visão, ele é tão bom e até mais épico com seus eventos do que seu antecessor, sendo para mim, o meu favorito de toda a trilogia. Ok, eu até posso entender que ele "se perde" no conceito de terror, mas ainda sim toda a abordagem dele não fica para trás e consegue se sustentar dentro do que ele se inspirou que foi a de um bom Call of Duty, só que numa pegada leve de terror, fora que, ele desenvolve bem toda a trama da garotinha "Alma" e de como ela é sinistra! Além de que, F.E.A.R, desde o primeiro nunca teve muito do conceito de algo de fato puro de terror como um Silent Hill ou algo do tipo, então essa abordagem foi tão aceitável, nos meus olhos, quanto a que exploraram anteriormente, e a ideia de fases épicas e a progressão divertida de uma para outra me prenderam bem do início ao fim nesse game, até mais que do próprio F.E.A.R 1.
The most unredeemable piece of shit I've ever played. It's like a complete 180 from the last game and is a slap in the face to anyone who likes it. It actually confuses me how much this game sucks.
F.E.A.R 2 has a weak opening gameplay wise, but then becomes so much better once you get the slow-mo power as part of the narrative - it's very deliberate in making the game feel underwhelming before revealing the mechanic. The plot is strongest in these early hours with the corporate intrigue and human experimentation mysteries in full effect. But then, the game settles into a groove far more reminiscent of other shooters from this era. Ruined cities, long gun fights against soldiers, missile launchers - that effective thriller tone the game opens with dissipates into what I can only describe as thematically standard. The game retains the fun of it's gameplay loop though, which kept me playing all the way to the end, despite the narrative losing the wind in it's sails from about the half-way point.
You're like free pizza at an anime convention. She can smell you. And she wants to consume you
Nails the 'generic Xbox 360 FPS' vibe. The school level is good though.
I've played it but remember nothing about it, which probably tells you how good it was. The first game is much better.
1 час хорошей игры и 6 часов душнины.
Полная рецензия: Когда я начал эту игру, я думал почему ее считают хуже первой части, тут же и стрельба покруче и ИИ вроде умнее, да и локации более красочные, но потом прошла половина игры и я ахуел с того говна что началось.
Геймдизайн умер, локации и события начали повторяться с бешенной скоростью, а еще этот ебучий геймплей за робота, сука, какая же кривая хуйня, я просто был в ахуе. Про сюжет я молчу, началась какая-то анархичная санта-барбара с абсолютно тупой концовкой. А еще куча максимально кривых шутерных механик, которые всплывают под конец игры (особенно эти гранаты, которые дамажут только если взрываются у головы противника, да и то не факт).
Полная рецензия: Когда я начал эту игру, я думал почему ее считают хуже первой части, тут же и стрельба покруче и ИИ вроде умнее, да и локации более красочные, но потом прошла половина игры и я ахуел с того говна что началось.
Геймдизайн умер, локации и события начали повторяться с бешенной скоростью, а еще этот ебучий геймплей за робота, сука, какая же кривая хуйня, я просто был в ахуе. Про сюжет я молчу, началась какая-то анархичная санта-барбара с абсолютно тупой концовкой. А еще куча максимально кривых шутерных механик, которые всплывают под конец игры (особенно эти гранаты, которые дамажут только если взрываются у головы противника, да и то не факт).
Eu curti mais a jogabilidade do 2 que do 1, porem, o 1 com certeza da mais medo.
Embora Fear não seja um bom exemplo de medo
Embora Fear não seja um bom exemplo de medo
Fun shooter to kill time. The story is nothing incredible, but it is still enjoyable. The set pieces and moments are better than the first. AI and sandbox were definitely downgraded.
Monolith Productions really hit the nail in the head when they developed F.E.A.R. , as it was such an unique and interesting game, that if they ever wanted to make a sequel for it, they needed to bring their A game in order to just scratch the level of quality of that one.
Here comes F.E.A.R. 2, an ill-fated sequel that never really got a clear direction and almost killed the franchise as a whole. At one point, two different games were even developed as F.E.A.R. 2, one for consoles and one for PC. However, the two games merged, and became one entity known as F.E.A.R. 2 : Project Origin.
This game is really hard to describe. Project Origin is way more cinematic, but also absurdly janky. It is brutal, but also lacking in terms of visual. It is a lesser version of the original, seemingly sharing the name of something that it wants to imitate as it slowly rots away while you are playing, until it becomes somewhat enjoyable for what it is.
Project Origin is something that would make any fan fear what an upcoming sequel will do to their beloved original. Sadly, it is an essential experience for those who seek more F.E.A.R. content from Monolith, as this is their last game in the franchise.
Do not get me wrong, Project Origin has it's own moments, such as the mech section that is weirdly fun for example. It is just that everything feels downgraded compared to the original. At least the plot is somewhat better, and it is much more akin to a movie, than a game. Actually, Project Origin would have worked much better as a movie to be honest.
Here comes F.E.A.R. 2, an ill-fated sequel that never really got a clear direction and almost killed the franchise as a whole. At one point, two different games were even developed as F.E.A.R. 2, one for consoles and one for PC. However, the two games merged, and became one entity known as F.E.A.R. 2 : Project Origin.
This game is really hard to describe. Project Origin is way more cinematic, but also absurdly janky. It is brutal, but also lacking in terms of visual. It is a lesser version of the original, seemingly sharing the name of something that it wants to imitate as it slowly rots away while you are playing, until it becomes somewhat enjoyable for what it is.
Project Origin is something that would make any fan fear what an upcoming sequel will do to their beloved original. Sadly, it is an essential experience for those who seek more F.E.A.R. content from Monolith, as this is their last game in the franchise.
Do not get me wrong, Project Origin has it's own moments, such as the mech section that is weirdly fun for example. It is just that everything feels downgraded compared to the original. At least the plot is somewhat better, and it is much more akin to a movie, than a game. Actually, Project Origin would have worked much better as a movie to be honest.
A solid sequel with more of the same as the original, tweaked to almost perfection.
Horror sequences with Alma were ofter very nicely done and succeeded in creating an atmosphere, but this game was too much just an another Call of Duty clone dudebro shooter with bullet time that pretty much every shooted had to have at the time. Too much time was wasted in boring & stupid shooting on generic targets. Game was at it's best in walking simulator moments where there were no guns used. I did feel fear however, and that's an accomplishment.
Piece of shit
Meh
very nice!